In Touch

In Touch

By BBC Radio 4Society & Culture
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In Touch episodes

  • In Touch from Northern Ireland with Tom Walker

    Tom Walker visits Northern Ireland to meet three visually-impaired women: musician Clare Bowes lost her sight in the Omagh bombing of 1998 and has since set up her own music academy. Andrea Begley won the BBC talent TV programme The Voice' in 2013. Andrea talks to Tom about her experience on the show and the impact her visual impairment has had on her career. Joanna Toner runs 'Laughter Yoga' sessions, for sighted and blind participants. Tom joins a session and talks to some of the people taking part.

    Presenter: Tom Walker

    Producer: Cheryl Gabriel
    .

    19 min
  • Canute Brailler and Amit Patel's camera-carrying guide dog

    The Canute is the latest development in refreshable multi-line Braille and is demonstrated by Ed Rogers from Bristol Braille Technology.

    Sean Randall is a teacher at Worcester New College where the Canute has been tested by students. Sean talks to Peter about its pros and cons.
    Amit Patel is totally blind and has fitted a small video camera to his guide dog Kika's harness. The footage has enabled him to witness the good and not so good behaviour of people with whom he comes into contact during the course of his travels.

    19 min
  • In Touch in Turkey and their first guide dog association

    Peter White is in Istanbul for the second of two programmes recorded in Turkey. Maggie Moore is a guide dog owner and has inspired blind and partially-sighted people in Turkey to set up their own guide dog association. Led by lawyer Nurdeniz Toncer, the first association has just been launched.

    UK guide dog trainer Alan Brooks has been training Ece Onderoglu in England, to become Turkey's first guide dog mobility instructor, as well as training Nurdeniz with the training of her dog Kara.
    Peter talks to them about the training programme and the culture of pet ownership in the country.
    They are all optimistic about the association's future and Nurdeniz tells Peter that Maggie has been a great role model for blind people in Turkey.
    Richard Moore the Ambassador tells Peter that he is very supportive of Maggie's work and admits to the project providing 'Canine soft power' in helping support diplomatic relations.

    20 min
  • Access To Work, access to BBC online content and Red Szell

    Journalist Richard de Costobadie is a big fan of BBC news online. Recently however, he suspects there is a trend towards some stories being presented in a format he cannot access: video clips, without explanatory audio, but scrolling text overlaid instead.

    Mark Fulcher is a blind piano-tuner who wants to be able to submit his claim form for Access To Work electronically, as on several occasions his completed hard copy claim forms have gone missing once he's sent them off. The DWP respond.

    And writer Red Szel returns with another column, this time on the language of visual-impairment.

    20 min
  • Look's 25th and blind mums

    LOOK, the charity supporting parents of blind children is 25 years old. CEO Charlotte Carson talks to Peter White about the legacy left by her parents Jennifer and Gareth Bowen and her aims for the organisation's future.

    Denise Leigh and Joy Addo, also both blind mums, talk about the problem of carrying or transporting babies, if you are blind or visually-impaired.
    Charlie also offers her experience as a partially-sighted mum to two young daughters.

    20 min
  • Mobile Phone Answering Service, Gary O'Donoghue

    Peter White talks to Simon Rockman, founder of Fuss Free Phones, and to Steve Tyler of RNIB. The company has partnered with RNIB to offer a mobile phone answering service to help blind and partially-sighted customers make and receive calls.

    BBC Washington Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue talks about his experience of working on the US Election and explains the impact of a change of government's names and faces will have on the way he does his job.

    19 min
  • Guide dog waiting lists, Watches, Blind parenting

    Peter White talks about guide dog waiting lists with BBC reporter and guide dog owner Ian Hamilton, who's been waiting for a replacement dog for over six months.

    Ian Macrae and Hazel Dudley look at accessible watches. Ian reviews the smart watch from Apple and Hazel shows Peter two talking watches by Verbalise which she describes as 'dressy'.
    Joy Addo presents her first column on being a blind Mum.

    19 min
  • Richard Leaman to step down and Ffion Miles steps out

    Richard Leaman is to step down as CEO of Guide Dogs, without an explanation. Peter talked to Rose Hewitt, Chair of COGDO, the Circle of Guide Dog Owners, who said that the members she's spoken to, want the charity to return to providing its core function of providing guide dogs for blind people.

    Ffion Miles is about to go on a trip to Australia and tells Peter about the planning involved. Ffion has relied heavily on the internet and social media to connect with people and organisations who can help her.
    During his recent visit to Brazil, Peter met Marcos Lima who collects miniature models of famous landmarks and buildings from around the world.

    19 min
  • Fight For Sight and review of accessible speaker

    Fight for Sight's CEO Michele Acton, joins Peter White to talk about the charity's work funding medical research into eye disease.

    Stand-up comedian Chris McCausland reviews the Amazon Echo, a wireless voice-activated smart speaker, which is a mainstream product accessible to blind and partially-sighted people due to its voice-activated controls.

    19 min

About In Touch

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News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted